Question:
The mother of my daughter says they are going to Disneyland and it will cut into my visitation on Father’s Day. Is she allowed to do this? What can I do before that day to stop this? If I wait to resolve this later, she’ll just take her without regard?
Answer:
Depending upon the exact terms of your custody orders, the ability in your area to get into court quickly, and state law on visitation interference, you may have options to obtain police or court enforcement of your custody orders to prevent her violation. If your court orders are not sufficiently detailed, you may need to obtain a court order clarifying the terms, which may not be possible prior to her trip. You may have to seek compensatory visitation to make up for her not allowing you time on Father’s Day.
You should consult a domestic litigation firm, such as Cordell & Cordell, to review your court orders and assess the realistic enforcement options in your jurisdiction. While law enforcement may have the authority to enforce your visitation order, due to local considerations your local police may not make such efforts a priority or may limit their efforts to persuasion, not active intervention. Similarly, courts should make visitation issues a priority, but the docket load in your area may make “priority” relative. An experienced domestic litigation attorney will be able to advise you as to the available strategy options.
Richard Coffee is a Litigation Manager in the Belleville Illinois office of Cordell & Cordell. He is an experienced divorce attorney whose practice is devoted to domestic litigation. He is licensed in the State of Illinois and is admitted to practice law in the U.S. District Courts for Northern, Central and Southern Illinois.
Mr. Coffee has extensive domestic litigation trial experience representing clients in courts throughout Illinois on all aspects of domestic litigation, including the representation of clients who are current or retired military personnel with issues under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act and the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act, clients involved in state court jurisdictional disputes due to the relocation of one or both parties from or to Illinois, and clients with government or private pension benefit valuation and division issues.
I have joint custody and visitation on every other weekend and my ex is trying to take the kids from me on my scheduled weekend for no important reason. She wants to take them to a picnic but it falls on my weekend, when asked if i would switch weekends I replied no due to working on the weekends I don’t get my kids. She was told no with a ligament reason to why and is saying that she’s just going to take them anyways and not show for my scheduled weekend with them. What options do I have to prevent this from happening and have my scheduled time? I don’t find it fair or appropriate that she thinks she can choose the weekend I get them. I have visitation already established by the court and she thinks she can just do what she wants and I’m tired of being walked on. What can I do?